Andrea Raymer

Name: Andrea Raymer

Gender: Female

Age: 17 (Birthday - July 11)

Grade: 12

School: Bayview Secondary School

Hobbies and Interests: Caffeine and stimulants, SOTF, sociology and philosophy, underground music, piercings, skate culture, horror movies and film

Appearance: Andrea is fair-skinned, measuring about 5'7" and 128 pounds with a modest bust and hips. She keeps a low weight due to her natural build and a combination of metabolism, insomnia, and caffeine, so she has little muscle mass and the tiniest bit of a tummy. Andrea’s face is heart-shaped with a small nose and a large collection of jewellery. She has nostril, tongue and labret piercings, with her ears boasting 6mm flesh tunnels with multiple other rings or barbells. Her dimples show when she smiles, but Andrea smirks more than she smiles.

Andrea was born blonde, but hasn't seen that color in three years. She's dyed it various colors throughout highschool but usually returns to simple black. She keeps it straight and it currently reaches the middle of her neck. Andrea is mildly nearsighted and usually wears black-framed glasses, keeping her contacts on hand but generally finding them to be too much of a bother. She’ll wear fairly heavy eyeshadow over the dark circles that sometimes accumulate around her eyes, which are a rather brilliant shade of blue that most consider to be her best feature.

Clothing-wise, Andrea usually wears cargo pants or loose jeans with a T-shirt or sleeveless top: sometimes a novelty one and sometimes a branded one such as DC or Vans. She's also got an affinity for skate shoes and flip-flops. Andrea doesn't actually skate, but enjoys the style and has friends who do. She also likes to "go goth" on occasions, and will drag out her fishnets and boots for local concerts and any event that warrants it.

Biography: Andrea was the first child of an upwardly mobile St. Paul family. Her father David was a funeral director who had ownership in three Twin Cities-area funeral homes, and her mother Joanne worked as a group insurance broker. They had a son named Alex five years later, and a typical upper-middle class divorce five years after that. Andrea and Alex went to live with their mother, but both kept up good relationships with their father.

By all accounts Andrea was an extremely intelligent child, but she often seemed bored and disinterested in her classes. In junior high she began to explain missed assignments by saying she was having trouble focusing and concentrating on her schoolwork. This lead to a few appointments with the school-approved psychologist, and Andrea soon headed home with a diagnosis of ADD and a prescription for Ritalin, which she fell in love with almost immediately. After entering Bayview, Andrea began making connections with kids who didn't want their own over-prescribed medications, and she soon had a very minor business set up selling painkillers, stimulants, sedatives, and tranqs to other kids that desired them. Andrea never made much money at this little game, but finding herself both bored and an outsider from the "average" high school society, she enjoyed both the thrill of it and the attention it brought her from her customers. Ever better, she was able to sample various stimulants and other medications that she was soon using to supplement her own prescriptions.

While developing at Bayview, Andrea deliberately deviated from what she considered the norm, gaining a liking for underground music, including local gothic, punk and metal bands, as well as low-budget horror movies and anything involving cerebral indie filmmaking. Her personality combined with her addictions led to a sarcastic, rambling and sometimes condescending conversational form. She can go on for minutes at a time, enjoying the fact that the other person can't get a word in edgewise.

Studies-wise, Andrea hated classes that focused on hard facts and figures, finding the work monotonous, boring and near impossible to focus on and complete. She prefers studies that involve abstract thought and debate, especially in regards to “the human condition”, and can often be seen reading books on the strange ways in which people act and scribbling in a journal. She has also been a follower of SOTF ever since its first season, becoming an early fan of Adam Dodd due to him having what she thought at the time to be the best storyline going. Andrea doesn't follow SOTF to the point of obsession and fully believes it to be real, but to her it’s a logical extension of reality television, combining a deep examination of human nature with crazy death and drama. The primal nature of the show makes it what she calls the “the most awesome sociological experiment of the modern era”, though she often finds herself bemoaning the stupidity of the people involved.

Also soon after high school started, Andrea's father began experiencing medical issues that would soon be diagnosed as gastric cancer. Despite surgery, David Raymer passed away on Andrea's fifteenth birthday. Having spent a lifetime acquainted with death, he would talk freely about his disease and coming mortality with Andrea, and she seemed to take it as well as is possible. He also made sure his children would be taken care of, selling his ownership in the funeral homes to his partner Henry Schenn and ensuring that Andrea and Alex both had a large inheritance coming once they turned 18. Andrea never talked about the issue much, under the belief that her father was the only one who could understand her feelings on the issue. She's become more distant from her workaholic mother since then, although she's become closer to her brother at the same time, endlessly trying to good-naturedly corrupt the more straight-laced Alex.

In her senior year, Andrea remains much the same way she's been throughout high school. She's rambling, outwardly philosophical, and makes no secret that she thinks she's smarter than most other people. However, she's also willing to put on a friendly face with most people and chat them up so long as they’ll put up with her. She keeps up her peddling of prescriptions, and now abuses Ritalin, Adderall, and caffeine pills amongst others, to the point that she's become slightly insomniatic. She'll often joke that her constant stimulant use has caused her brain to function at a higher level than others, but no one is quite sure whether she's serious or not. Her grades are good if nowhere near spectacular, and she'll often suddenly manage to get the answers to puzzles and questions that have stumped most of the class. However, she still procrastinates on most things and has been given the "if only you applied yourself" speech by her teachers on more than one occasion.

Andrea has no real plans for the future, beyond taking a year off after high school to bum about and start spending her inheritance money. She's planning on heading off to college eventually, maybe in Minnesota and maybe elsewhere. If nothing else, it'll afford her another few years to be irresponsible and put off any sort of maturity or personal growth. Many people feel that she might follow her father into the funeral business eventually and she’s given that thought, but feels it might be a bit too predictable a path. And she’d never want anyone to consider her predictable.

Advantages: Andrea's naturally smart and has a knack for puzzles and problem solving. She can think around corners and come up with creative solutions to problems, assuming she cares enough to put her mind to it. She has a decent number of acquaintances around school between those she deals with and those who enjoy her snarky, impulsive personality. Should Andrea hang on to her meds, she can use them to keep her concentration and avoid withdrawal; or bargain for favours. With her devil-may-care attitude and having grown up in a funeral home, she’s more desensitized to death than others and may have the mental fortitude to survive a while on the island. Lastly, Andrea has a good amount of SOTF knowledge, which could be an advantage over those more ignorant of the way the game is played.

Disadvantages: Physically, Andrea’s in average shape at best, her drug use having had its effects. She’s twitchy, her endurance is terrible, and she doesn't really know how to fight with or without weaponry. If deprived of her stimulants and caffeine she’ll go into serious withdrawal mode; and if not, she could go right into near-overdose territory. There are several who dislike Andrea on sight due to her nature and reputation and she has few close friends, issues that won’t be helped by her image as an SOTF fangirl. Andrea often seems more interested in holding a conversation with herself than with others, and her rambling and often insulting way of speaking turns people away. Finally, Andrea is overconfident and thinks she's smarter than she actually is, and may take outrageous risks without considering the consequences.

Designated Number: Female Student no. 077

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Designated Weapon: Gunpowder

Conclusion: I am touched that G077 is such a fan of our little game. However, it should come as no surprise to you now that watching is most definitely a different experience than being a participant. If she doesn't learn fast she's toast.

'The above biography is as written by D/N. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: D/N, JamesRenard

Kills: None

Killed By: N/A, Escaped

Collected Weapons: Gunpowder (assigned weapon, to Allen Birkman), fragmentation grenades x 4 (from Allen Birkman, two taken by Alex White, two used)

Allies: Nick Reid, Allen Birkman

Enemies: Alex White

Mid-game Evaluation: Andrea woke up in the middle of the inland woods, suffering from a headache the moment she tried to sit up. She was approached straight away by Nick Reid holding a Molotov cocktail, the presence of which let her know that she was on SOTF. She freaked out, grabbed her bag and noticed her number - G77 - the corresponding number to V1 winner Adam Dodd, which brought about a burst of laughter. While she was busy figuring things out, Nick had noticed a boy (Alex White) in the distance, which prompted Andrea to search through her bag for her designated weapon, which turned out to be a container filled with gunpowder. She then began to panic when it dawned on her that she may not have had her drugs on her person. Alex approached, and revealed he was only armed with a branch. Andrea was calmed. amused by the news, and was able to find a half supply of her Ritalin and Adderall, which she believed had been done on purpose by the terrorists to up the ante. Alex and Nick suddenly confronted one another, and Andrea was shocked to realize she'd be seeing an SOTF fight up close and personal for the first time. Alex took a swing at Nick, Andrea decided to intervene by dashing in and throwing some of her gunpowder in his face. That diffused the situation, Nick fled and left behind his own drugs after Alex tried to apologize for his rash attack. Andrea advised Alex on how to use them before taking her own leave, feeling somewhat confident due to her SOTF knowledge.

Andrea found the cell phone tower by nightfall, she decided to leave a brief, mostly flippant message for people watching. She used a notebook from her supplies to start taking notes, but was interrupted by the appearance of Allen Birkman. His naive approach bemused her, but she allowed him shelter for the night, though they didn't converse otherwise. She kept herself going through the night on her stimulants while he slept.

The next morning a massive amount of kills was announced and Andrea struggled to keep up nothing the murderers, shocked that some of the names were familiar to her. Allen was more outraged, she advised him to be careful about player hunting. They were interrupted before they got much further by Julian Avery. Andrea was forced by the conversation's subsequent direction to admit to her being a fan of SOTF, she insisted she was not intending to be a killer. The boys didn't immediately ostracize her and continued to ask questions, she rambled while the ball was in her court and eventually bluffed that she believed SOTF was set up to encourage escape attempts and that there was a trick to successful execution if they helped her find it. Both boys bought into the idea, though Julian was quickly led away by the antics of an ally in the distance. Andrea and Allen made to depart, encountered Kitty Gittschall on their way out. Andrea initially offered her a place in the budding escape group until Allen pointed out Kitty was bloodied, Andrea promptly retracted her offer and led them away.

By Day 3 after wandering they made their way to The Parish area, where they found their first corpse, which didn't especially shock Andrea. The area was quickly active, with the presence of Annaliese Hansen, Jacqueline Myrie, Alison Walworth, Lily Maclaughlin, and Kevin Harding. Allen was distracted by a brief scary encounter with Kevin that fortunately ended peacefully. Andrea watched the conversations continue, interjecting where she felt appropriate, but she was too slow to react to Jackie suddenly taking a turn for the murderous and electing to stab Lily in the throat. The situation quickly devolved, Allen started running with their stuff and Andrea followed, mostly lamenting the massive non-starter the confrontation had turned out to be.

By Day 4 Andrea was beginning to lose faith in the potency of her bluff and was worried about her vulnerability in the long run. They were investigating the residential area when the noise of a confrontation alerted them. Gunshots rung out, Allen grabbed her and pulled her to the ground in an attempt to protect her. They quickly got up at Andrea's prompting and carefully investigated the area the sounds had come from, but an announcement interrupted them: Danya announcing his retaliation for Liz Polanski disabling her collar. The threat was acted on in the form of a bystander in the area, Lucy Ashmore's neck was blown apart and Andrea was too stunned to immediately respond. Andrea muttered to herself while Allen was sick, Andrea freaking out about the brutality of the display of Lucy's corpse and Liz's having stolen her 'spotlight'. They were approached by Joe Rios, another bystander, Andrea elected to brush him off. Andrea changed out her bloodied shirt before they departed, she couldn't resist cheekily offering the 'fanservice' as the collateral for her continued living.

Andrea continued to make a game out of changing out of her dirty clothes later on in the lighthouse where they'd taken shelter, while she continued to ruminate on Liz and her dwindling supply of pills. She tried to start a conversation and a game of cards with Allen from an abandoned set she'd found while searching the lighthouse, but the conversation quickly turned to questions about Andrea's 'plan'. She deflected the question by invoking Liz as a counterpoint, Allen accepted and they played cards for a few hours before Allen needed sleep. Andrea spent his sleeping hours reflecting on her plans, then decided to steal a number of his grenades and part ways to kick off her ideas. He woke however, she panicked and tried to run but he tackled her down and demanded an explanation. She bluffed that she cared about him too much to put him in further danger with her intended plan, and that she had a note she'd intended to leave behind for him. She had indeed explained herself, that she'd puzzled out that an island generator had to be powering the cameras and that she wanted to destroy it. She'd written out the plan on paper to prevent it from being vocalized for the terrorists to hear. Allen decided he wanted to help her, and she was relieved he'd remained with her despite the inherent risk. Their alliance was mended and they returned to resting.

The next morning Andrea noticed something she'd never seen on an SOTF broadcast before, a helicopter passing over the island. She pointed out the possible good news to Allen before they set off to put the plan into action.

Post-Game Evaluation:

Memorable Quotes:
 * "And uh, Danya, if you want to see more crazy shirtless Andrea, don't blow my collar!" - Andrea bargains with Danya moments after Lucy Ashmore's collar is detonated in front of her.
 * "Look, uh, to everyone else.... (...) Just keep watching, K? Cause I know that telling anyone to turn it off and not watch would be pretty fucking hypocritical on my part, and uh, yeah. I'm gonna go write stuff now and keep on figuring things out. (...) You see this, folks? That's a winner's number." -- Andrea to the viewers at home.
 * "You watch that mom? I fucking hope so." -- While 'stripping' for the camera.

Threads
Below is a list of threads that contain Andrea, in chronological order.

Past Memories:
 * The Bright Side of Life
 * The Kids at the Back of the Classroom
 * One Whole Hour Ago

Pre-Game:
 * The Alibi
 * Flaws
 * Reflection into the EDEN
 * Sky's the Limit
 * Stillwater Runs Deep

V4: Post-Game:
 * Waking Up is Hard to do
 * Can't Fall Down
 * Jesus Loves the Little Children
 * Burn the Louvre
 * Out on a Tether
 * Make Your Own Kind of Music
 * The Lesson Today is How To Die
 * Can Fall Down
 * Monsters
 * The Cavalry Arrives
 * Four-Act Structure
 * Tomorrow's Garden
 * Crash and Burn and Never Learn
 * Larry King Live
 * Land of Hope and Dreams
 * Hollywoodland
 * Last to Die

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Andrea Raymer. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''
 * Andrea's another really great character I was glad to see rescued. She also added an extra layer of drama, in that her survival was uncertain for some time. Andrea was a character who stood out, even from her first appearances in pregame. She's also one of the few characters where I'd really say her pregame stuff is a vital part of the reading experience (fortunately, it's linked at the relevant parts in her in-game story). Andrea was troubled before the island. Like all of D/N's characters, she's got a very unique voice and story, an interesting take on everything. She's one of the more out there characters in V4, yet she's also always totally believable. She has goals that make sense, for the situation and for her. She's not perfectly moral, but her frequent lapses all come from who she is.

Andrea is, in fact, kind of tough for me to discuss because her story and arc work so well. She develops in and out of game, faces various struggles, comes off better in some and worse in others, and has some great interactions with lots of characters (notably Allen Birkman, who's a great companion for a lot of her story). She's not the most high-profile character in V4, probably because she didn't kill anyone or intersect with any truly huge plots except for the rescue, but I really wish more people would look at Andrea, because she's a great example of a distinct, memorable, high-quality character.

The last little thing I have to say about Andrea is I loved everything of her post-game we got. It was great to see someone use their experiences in SOTF to chase after fame, because that's exactly what I imagine a lot of people would do. That's especially true given how many people survived; unlike John Rizzolo, Andrea had to compete some just due to volume of survivors. I hope maybe we'll get to see more of her someday. - MurderWeasel